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Iraq hold Under 23s to scoreless draw

The Qantas Australian U23s have ended their AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games campaign with a scoreless draw against the Iraq U23s at Central Coast Stadium.

The Qantas Australian U23s have ended their AFC Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Games campaign with a scoreless draw against the Iraq U23s at Central Coast Stadium.

On a balmy night at the picturesque bayside arena, an experimental and developmental Qantas Australian U23s outfit couldn-t quite manage to get the better of their rivals who proved stubborn opposition.

While both teams strung together some neat build up play through midfield, neither side could find the killer pass or strike on goal. Indeed, the Qantas Australian U23s goalkeeper, Mark Birighitti, and the Iraqi goalkeeper, Jalal Hassan Hachim, had relatively trouble-free matches with much of the contest played out in midfield.

The game had a lively opening with chances arriving at both ends in the first ten minutes of play. In the fifth minute, Iraq could, and perhaps should have capitalised on a defensive error by Australia, while soon after midfielder Mustafa Amini nearly opened the door for Chris Harold. Amini-s pass was just a little too strong for Harold who worked tirelessly upfront throughout the match.

Kept at bay by the new Qantas Australian U23s pairing of Brendan Hamill and Zac Anderson, the Iraq U23s were forced to shoot from range and they did so in the 17th minute. Birighitti, however, watched the shot from Ahmed Yaseen fly high of his crossbar.

Chris Harold-s pace was proving a menace for the Iraqi backline and his good work drew a foul in the 36th minute of play following a pass from captain Ben Kantarovski. Unfortunately for Vidmar-s men, Dimitrios Petratos- resulting free kick failed to trouble Hassan Hachim.

Perhaps the best chance of the game came just two minutes before referee Yuichi Nishimura-s half-time whistle. Ammar Abdulhussein Ahmed fired a venomous shot at goal however was thwarted by an alert Birighitti who sprung into action to save the goal bound effort.

The second stanza was close to a carbon copy of the first, with both teams struggling to create many clear-cut opportunities to break the deadlock.

For Qantas Australian U23s, substitute Tomas Rogic and Harold both unleashed efforts from low percentage areas but couldn-t quite force Hassan Hachim into a meaningful save, while Abdulhussein Ahmed whisked a low, curling shot past the woodwork on in the 67th minute.

Unfortunately for the 2071 fans that had made the trek to Central Coast Stadium there were no goals to witness, with referee Nishimura calling time on the game after four minutes of added play.

Qantas Australian U23 Head Coach, Aurelio Vidmar, was pleased with the effort of his players considering the limited preparation.

“I thought there were some really strong performances from our goalkeeper, back four, central midfielders tonight. Chris Harold also did quite a very good job under very tough circumstances.

”It was never going to be an easy match. So considering we had only two light sessions and it was the first time this group had played together I thought we did a decent job,” concluded Vidmar.